It is known to form hollow molded supports, such as seat supports, either by the blow molding process or the rotational casting process as disclosed in Australian Pat. No. 273,402; Fogle Jr. et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,142,757; and Harder Jr. U.S. Pat. No. 3,848,925. Generally, such supports include spaced walls which can be reinforced by a series of depressions extending inwardly of one wall and integral with the other wall. When the support is incorporated in a vehicle seat assembly which includes a cushion, the cushion must be secured to the support. Fogle Jr. does not disclose any manner of securement of a seat cushion to a hollow molded seat support while Harder Jr. discloses the use of keyhole apertured metal strips which are secured over depressions in the seat support and receive buttons on the cushion in order to secure the cushion to the support. It is desirable that the cushion be securable to the seat support on a mass production basis and with minimum assembly operations. If the seat assembly includes a cover, it is desirable that its securement meet these same criteria.
In the preferred embodiment of this invention, the hollow molded seat support includes spaced walls and a number of depressions which extend inwardly from one wall to the other wall and are integral therewith. Certain of these depressions are arranged in rows with the depressions of the rows being paired with each other. One of the walls of the support intermediate the paired depressions is provided with a series of integral rib portions. The seat cushion seats on this one wall and is formed with elongated passages which extend through the cushion and open to each of the series of rib portions. A seat cushion anchor member spans each passage adjacent a respective series of rib portions and is hog ringed to the rib portions in order to secure the cushion to the support. An envelope type cover is then slipped over the cushion and support and hog ringed to an edge of the support in order to complete the seat assembly.
By providing the attachment means for the cushion integral with the seat support, the assembly of the cushion to the support can be made expeditiously with conventional hog ringing tools and without any additional parts or fasteners or assembly operations being necessary. The seat cushion anchor member can be in the form of a bolster wire which is integral with or secured to a strip of mesh embedded in the cushion during the foaming process. Again, no additional parts or fasteners or assembly operations are required. The attachment of the cover may be conveniently made to an edge portion of the support formed by the integral walls. This edge portion may be provided with a series of integral depressions to provide thin wall portions for ease of hog ringing with conventional tools.
Thus the components of the seat assembly of this invention can be each formed as a complete component and then assembled to each other in a very simple and expeditious manner and without requiring any additional fasteners or parts or assembly operations.
The primary object of this invention is to provide an improved seat assembly which includes a hollow molded plastic support having a series of integral rib portions which are secured to a foam cushion, with an envelope type cover over both the seat support and cushion. Another object is to provide such a seat assembly wherein the cushion is provided with passages which open to a respective series of rib portions, with each passage being spanned by an anchor member adjacent the rib portions so as to be secured thereto to assemble the cushion and support. A further object is to provide such a seat assembly wherein the seat cushion anchor member is in the form of a bolster wire of a strip of mesh embedded in the cushion during the foaming process.